Intercultural Business Communication

This article discusses the importance of intercultural business communication in the global business world. It explores the impact of cultural differences on business success and provides insights into the experiences of a Chinese student studying in Australia.

Running head: INTERCULTURAL BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Intercultural Business Communication
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The impact of the globalization is seen to be notably evident in the modern business
world and the increasing entry of the new business organizations in the various business
industry is massive contribution of the globalization. With a realization of the impact of the
globalization, it is evident that the companies are considering the opportunities of opening
their business in the new locations or countries. Under such situation, the intercultural
business communication becomes significantly important for the companies to manage as
that holds the key to the success for them. Weck and Ivanova (2013) commented that the
importance of identifying the buyer behaviours and the preferences of the customers are the
fundamental factors that contribute to the development of a sustainable business. Bharadwaj
(2013) also claimed that it becomes important for the companies to understand the thought
process of their customers and in order to understand the process in which a community or
the customers think, there is hardly a better process than understanding the culture of the
customers. As it becomes important to understand the culture to identify the cultural
differences that the managers of the organizations will try to solve for achieving a suitable
business, the intercultural communication will provide significant amount of scope to the
managers for the identification of the cultural differences. The paper is focused in the
elaboration of intercultural communication between me and Australian individuals. I am a
Chinese and I was in Sydney for considerable amount of time for my studies where I faced
significant amount of exposure to the Australian culture.
Context:
I had the chance of completing my business administration studies in one of the
reputed institutions of Sydney and along with that, I was able to work for a multinational
organization during that time and these two occasions provide me the basis for the experience
that I had regarding the intercultural communication. I had a group of friends who were
Australian by nationality, however, a rare section of that group also includes the Asian

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individuals belonging to Japan, Malaysia and China. The Australian individuals were
observed to be of competitive in nature, however, they were notably enthusiastic about each
and every aspect of their life as well. They had a tendency or fondness of wearing casuals
instead of the formal dresses and that was one of the prime factors that differentiated our
group look wise. The group included 5 male and 2 Australian females along with the other
Asian individuals. Whenever, I had to talk about the intercultural communication or the
experience that I had with the individuals of different cultures, I select my time and
experiences that I had in Australia because it was the first time when I was exposed to a
different culture and the individuals that not necessarily believe in the same values, social
beliefs and the cultural orientation that I had.
Hence it was a mixed feelings for me where I enjoyed their company and in many
cases, got disappointed and surprised as well. The situation was nothing big as it was just
friendly sessions of communication with my friends. We did have notable amount of
explanations of the activities that we managed. The journey was pretty good as my feelings or
the emotions that I had with the team were significantly decent. Considering myself at the
position of my Australian friends during that time, I consider I will be surprised as there is
significant amount of differences between the Chinese and the Australian culture. The
activities or the perceptions that the Chinese had, is different from that of the Australians,
hence it has to surprise me. However, it was not something that would frustrate me rather it
was exciting for me to have the idea of a different culture and societal beliefs. I guess it
would have been interesting for them to explore my Chinese culture. It was not something
that is out of box for them as well as even they did not have the taste of a different culture in
their life till that time.
Similarities and Differences:

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In order to evaluate the similarities and the differences that we had, owing to the
differences in our culture, the assessment regarding the various dimensions of the culture
becomes necessary. Considering the power distance dimension, it is pretty evident that I,
belonging to China, reflect a significantly collectivist nature or approach of doing things. I
consider that there should be a superior or subordinate relationship. Other than this, I
expected that the people will be influenced by the formality and that was pretty evident with
the style of communication that I had inside the group or the dress that I put on during those
days. I felt that people should not have the aspirations beyond their positions, however, the
Australian were seen to be significantly different in this. I saw my Australian friends to have
low level of consideration towards the formality and that was evident with the instant
friendships that they were capable of forming. As mentioned earlier, my Australian friends
had high preferences towards the casual wears and not only that, they were significantly
individualistic in nature as well (Hofstede-insights.com. 2019). The superior subordinate
culture was observed to be pretty low in their business structures and that is something they
are proud of as according to them, it enables the employees to have increased number of
friendly exchanges.
One of my Australian female friend, Eva commented that the lack of formality and
the increment in the exchanges have significant impact on enhancing the involvement of the
employees inside the workforces. However, something that we both had significant amount
of similarity is in the masculinity dimension. Australia, with a score of 61 in the dimension
portrays the fact that the people in the nation always have their eyes on the top prizes
(Hofstede-insights.com. 2019). It is evident that even my friends had a competitive nature
where they believed that the winner is the one to be remembered. Hence the impact of
complacency was significantly low amongst the individuals and it takes a lot to satisfy them
(Hofstede-insights.com. 2019). This is something that I am notably influenced by as I belong

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to a society which believes that the ultimate aim is to win. I consider that the top most
priorities for us is to make sure that we achieve our goal and in doing so, I have limited
concern on sacrificing my leisure time with the families. During the days, I had significant
amount of concern regarding the grades that I received as the top most priority was to become
second to none. As the objective was to win at every situation, the ranking was an influential
factor for me.
On the other hand, my Australian friends were seen to be at intermediate position in
case of being threatened by the unknown situations and that was evident with their life style,
however, I was bi insecure in these sorts of situations. I have the tendency of getting affected
by the frequent changes in the culture and the societies in a significant manner. I was inclined
towards limiting myself if I face any sort of situations that are unknown to me. This was
pretty prominent during the early days of mine in Sydney. It took several months to adapt the
new situation and the unknown parameters of the life that I had to deal with in Sydney.
Considering the long term orientation aspect, we had a significant differences and that was
pretty evident with the low score of Australia and the high score of my nation in the aspect.
My Australian friends were seen to belong to a normative culture where they had notable
amount of respect for their traditions and the culture, however, the focus of them regarding
the management of the challenges were seen to be significantly limited. On the other hand, I
belong to a society that is considerably pragmatic in nature. I believed that the concept of
truth was dependent on the situation, time and the context. I had a strong tendency of saving
and preparing for the unknown challenges of the future.
As it had the potential to affect me in a prominent manner, my concern towards the
future challengers were significant. Other than this, the aspect of indulgence is another factor
that affected our relationship. I, belonging to Chinese culture, was significantly affected by
restrained in nature. I was indifferent in putting strong emphasis towards the leisure times and

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I believed that the actions that are legal and ethical are only important for me. On the other
hand, with a score of 71, Australia was significantly indulgent country and that was evident
with the increasing realization of my Australian friends towards the impulses and the desires
of enjoying life. (Hofstede-insights.com. 2019) The Australian section of the group was
observed to possess a notably positive nature and had the tendency towards the optimism.
Other than this, I experienced a fluent mode of communication with them which was pleasing
for me as I had the chance to communicate with some people which was difficult for me after
going that far.

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References:
Bharadwaj, A., 2013. Teaching intercultural business communication to management
students: Challenges and strategies. The Business & Management Review, 3(2), p.74.
Hofstede-insights.com 2019. Country Comparison - Hofstede Insights. [online] Available at:
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/australia,china/
Weck, M. and Ivanova, M., 2013. The importance of cultural adaptation for the trust
development within business relationships. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing,
28(3), pp.210-220.